Monday, January 12, 2015

Last Week's Thrifty Moves


A trip to Cash & Carry (a mini version of Costco, but with no membership fees) netted me a 25# bag of long grain rice for $10.79.  It is one of the stock up items on my list and I wanted to buy as much rice as I could for around $10.00.  I think I accomplished that fairly well.  I also picked up a 5# bag of mozzarella cheese for $13.97.  I divided it into 2 cup increments and put it into sandwich bags which held it perfectly.  I then placed all my sandwich bags inside of a recycled two gallon Ziploc bag.  Neatly stored with an extra layer of protection.  I wasn't planning to buy this until next month but it was on sale this month so I used funds from February's budget and made the purchase early.  Doing this saved me $2.00.

I started making out my grocery list for next month.

I laundered and mended our Christmas tree skirt before I put it away.  Now it is all ready for next year.


I used leftover yarn from an afghan project and made myself a pair of slippers.  I also made another Christmas gift using a skein of periwinkle yarn I got out of that big bag of stuff I bought at the thrift store two years ago and the contrasting buff color was leftover from the scarf I made last week.  My youngest will love this set. J

I washed out a two gallon Ziploc bag to reuse.  I use that size to store my loaves of homemade bread.

I printed several online coupons to use on future grocery shopping trips.  My dear  friend gave me the coupons out of her Sunday paper.  My depleted coupon organizer is now well stocked.


We made pizza for dinner this week, well actually my youngest did.  I am ever so proud of her.  I only had to help by putting it in the oven and taking it out.  She even made a salad.  While she did that I used a speckled banana and made a batch of scrumptious muffins.

We made two more batches of pizza dough which I divided and put into four sandwich bags and then the freezer.  Now I have four balls of dough ready to thaw and make a quick pizza anytime we feel the need. J

My youngest put a hole in the knee of her new jeans already.  I think this is a record for her.  I patched them so she can keep wearing them, much to her relief.  And mine.  I also found and repaired a tiny hole in one of my tops before it could get any bigger.  Now it is hardly noticeable and only if you were looking for it.

I ironed.  Yep, you heard me.  I did.  Not necessarily thrifty but, for me, a big accomplishment.


Thursday night I stopped at Albertson's and picked up six jars or peanut butter on sale for 98¢ a jar!  Peanut butter is one of our stock up items on my list and at that price I wasn't about to pass it up.  Once again I used funds from next month's grocery budget to buy four of the jars and the other two will be part of this month's budget.

The girls and I used up the last of the lotion in two bottles we've had tipped upside down for awhile now.  I'm still working on one more.  We are eager to use up what we have so we can start enjoying our new stuff we got as gifts.

Friday night I won $10 at Bunco!

On Saturday I had to return the clothes I bought my oldest last week because they were too small.  I couldn't believe it.  This time I took her with me so she could try everything on.  It worked well for her, and for me actually, because they had added some new items to the clearance racks.  She ended up with two pair of jeans and two tops and I was only about $20 more out of pocket.


While at ShopKo we checked out the Christmas clearance aisle and I was thrilled to see prices had dropped from 60% OFF to 80% OFF regular prices.  I picked up a four roll package of gift wrap for $2.48.  I also found some of those big jar candles for $2.28 each.  They were originally priced at $12.99.  I bought four - one for me and three for the gift box.  I plan to give one to a friend and use one for my office gift exchange next Christmas.  I haven't decided yet who will get the third one but I think I have a little time to figure than one out. 


Also on clearance was candy marked down to $1.07 a bag.  Thanks to facebook I got a great idea to divide it up by color and use the candies wrapped in red for Valentine's Day and the green ones for St. Patrick's Days.  The M&Ms will be fun to divvy up but I thought I'd use them for making cookies.  My girls were super excited about this idea.

We went to our favorite thrift store and my oldest found two tops and a faux leather jacket she liked.  Everyone in the store really liked her in that jacket too.  All three items cost me $11.00.  I feel much better now that she is fully outfitted in clothes that fit for non school days.  She does too, I'm sure.

Coupons from my friend.
We stopped at the dollar store on the way home to pick up erasers and mechanical pencils for the oldest to take to school.  While there I spotted a really nice sketch pad and a set of six artist pencils.  I grabbed another set of the erasers my daughter was getting too.  Now I have a neat little gift for my youngest who loves to draw.  I'm going to put it away for her birthday.

We also stopped at Albertson's and picked up six more jars of peanut butter.  I used funds from next month's grocery budget to make that purchase and can now mark that item of the stock up list.  I'm pretty sure we now have a years supply off peanut butter.

How thrifty were you last week?


You may also enjoy reading Use It Up.



12 comments:

  1. I really enjoy your weekly thrifty moves posts. I don't always have much to add. My biggest thrifty things are using what I have or have already paid for, like my Y membership - yep, I finally joined the Y because it was getting too cold for long walks outside with the dog. I did join while they were having a special so I didn't have to pay the initiation fee, though.
    Oh, here's one - I spoke up for a volunteer activity I want to do, but I need to pay a dogsitter - and it turns out there are some payment funds. So I can go!
    - molly

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    1. Excellent Molly! Enjoy that Y membership. I think you do a great job. Give yourself a big pat on the back.

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    2. Also, do you have a pattern link for that scarf? I just found out one of my friends is pregnant and need to make a baby blanket! Yay!
      - molly

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    3. You know what? I just made it up. It is just a standard double crochet where I dc 2 and then chain stitch 1 and repeat. Pretty simple and I've made baby blankets with this pattern. Check out Youtube for baby blanket patterns. I think there are some great ideas on there. And people show you how to do it. Great news about the baby!!!

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  2. I am jealous (in a good way) of your thrifty week- fantastic! :)
    The scarf set you made your little lady is beautiful- she is going to love it!
    And I have to tell you that I laughed out loud reading your post because I NEVER iron! I think it has probably been at least 3 years since I last took the iron out- haha. And I do the same thing with the clearance Christmas candy that I find. We separate the colors and use them for coming holidays. I find it funny that someone else does that too- of course, this is you and I we're talking about. :)
    The deals you got all around were really good. If I need any peanut butter I know where to go- lol. I would have stocked up too, can't beat that price.
    I've heard you mention Bunco several times in your posts. What is Bunco?
    My week was pretty thrifty. I only bought milk, eggs and some produce at the grocery store and a few things needed for the house at the dollar store. I also accepted a bunch of clementines from our neighbor and the kids and I used them to make juice and we used the pulp for smoothies. It was a nice treat. We had a movie night with the kids (Disney's 'Aristocats'- haven't seen that since I was a kid.) Other than that I just tried to stay in and not go out anywhere so I am not tempted to spend. :)

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    1. Of course you don't iron!! ha, ha, ha. Okay guess what? We had family movie nite on Sat. Toy Story 2. Aristocats was my favorite as a kid. I swear we had to be sisters in another life. Sounds to me like you had a great thrifty week. You are awesome.

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  3. Your blogs are so fun to read and the comments are great. Doing a great job lady. Keep it up. You help us all more than you know.

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    1. Thanks Claudia! You know how much I love my blog and if I can help people with something it just makes it that much better. :)

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  4. Wow, this is really inspiring. I'm trying to get into the groove of being more thrifty. I tried couponing a couple of years ago but every time I went to stock up on stuff it was all gone due to other couponers who had gotten there before me. It was very dissappointing for the most part. I think one time I bought $80 worth of stuff for only $8 and I was so excited, but that was short lived =(

    Tania

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    1. My use of coupons is pretty much hit and miss. If I can pair up a coupon to a sales item and save a little more than I am pretty dang happy about it. I try to do that as often as possible. I am no extreme couponer by any means but I do notice I tend to save quite a bit with them each month. I don't even bother to clip coupons for items I don't use or go broke using up other before they expire. That is definitely not worth it. I don't think I've ever bought a lot of stuff for a small amount like you have but I've done fairly well overall. I find store coupons and loss leaders are the best! :)

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  5. I wish I could find good deals on candy like that. Although my lack of willpower and stomach would disagree :) Everything good on the after holiday sales go very quickly around here. It's crazy how crowded the stores are the first thing the next morning and I do not like crowds. You freeze your pizza dough still as a ball? Everything I have ever seen has the dough rolled out first, but if it works without doing that first, that would work much better and I could actually get it in my freezer.

    I received some more free items for the baby. Always very welcomed. I re-purposed some breastfeeding covers, the husband used leftover drywall to put a ceiling on our pantry and I used leftover paint to paint it, I cooked at home instead of eating out, we borrowed a movie from my mother in law to watch. My mom gave me soda and cereal she got for free.

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    1. Wow Jess you did really great! Nice having your pantry done up and at not additional expense too. Very nice. You do such great thrifty things. Yes, I make it up and freeze it right away in balls. Way easier than rolling it out first and takes up less space in the freezer. Keep up the great work!

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